


Faux Carnival

by ArsenicHazard



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Carnival, Dragons, F/M, Fairies, Gen, Monster Hunters, Monsters, travelling circus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:40:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26488816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArsenicHazard/pseuds/ArsenicHazard
Summary: Niko and Mezzy pawn off their latest kill to a monster carnival.(Originally written for Inktober 2016)





	Faux Carnival

As Mezyra had explained in long, uncomfortable detail, it was best to pawn the dragon remains at the "Underground Fairgrounds". To be honest, all of these names sounded beyond fake. Dragons themselves were still on the edge of reality and he was  _ carrying one _ . 

Nikoliath huffed as he shook his head, putting his top hat back onto his head, stretching. The cart came to a halt, the donkey giving an indignant huff. Mezyra scowled at the beast, climbing off.

"Guess this is where we get off. Stupid animal." 

Bailey gave a snort in protest as Niko moved to help haul the dead creature from the cart, walking with her into the fairgrounds. 

The grounds seemed to have a prominent darkness emanating from them. Sure there were lights, giving a faux carnival look to the place, but everything appeared as if it had been torn down and messily thrown back together. 

Giving a skeptical look, Niko huffed, rolling his one working eye, the other one neatly hidden behind his eyepatch. “ _ Here?” _ He muttered, wandering towards an empty booth.

“ _ No, the other fairgrounds that are conveniently around, _ yes of course here.” Mezzy said, sarcasm dripping from her words. Niko cast her a joking glare, elbowing her head, the height difference giving him the upperhand. The smaller girl set down the sack of scales she had been dragging behind her, leaning back and letting out a breath. “Home sweet home.” 

Having already assumed that Mezyra had been here before, he let her lead the way around, the place gradually coming to life as all sorts of people –and creatures that were ambiguously  _ not _ people- moved towards their shops, knowing the coast was clear again. The lanterns flickered, hazy in the darkening sky.

As they passed, several vendors yelled out to them, some in other languages, attempting to bring them over to look at their products. Mezzy seemed to ignore most of them, her path unwavering from her destination. Niko, however, being entirely foreign to this type of world, fought hard to refrain himself from moving around and examining each stall. “Mez-“ he started, backing away as a burst of flame caught his eye from one of the darkened cages hanging in a venue, “what is all of this?  _ Mezzy _ \- -“

“Oh shush.”

Niko hung by her more closely, wary of the merchants here. One reached out, finding a grasp on his coat, tugging him close. “What’s behind the patch, eh? Let me have a lookie here…”

In a flash, the tall hunter had his knife to the vendor’s wrist, lightly applying pressure until he felt the warm sticky liquid run down the hand of his blade. “Paws off.” He growled out, his voice darkening. He could be nervous, but in no way did that deter him from being on his guard, if anything, it only heightened his defenses. Mezzy had turned to watch the man handle the situation, her look one of boredom –as if his troubles with the society were inconveniencing her job. Shrugging off the man who cradled his bleeding wrist, Niko took long strides to catch up, his expression cold and threatening. No one else bothered them.

Upon reaching a tent closer to the end of the grounds, the shorter woman pushed open the flaps, dragging the dragon artifacts behind her. “Hey!” She called, looking around. “I got your stuff! It would be  _ nice _ of you to actually hold up your end of the deal.”

A stout man shuffled in from behind the curtain at the back. His hands were clasped in front of him, peering up with beady eyes that were magnified from thick rimmed glasses. To Niko, the person in question reminded him of a pangolin, and his bald head and pale skin only further resembled the uncomfortable scales of the creature. The man was at least a foot and a half shorter than himself, he presumed, that shiny head of his only reaching Niko’s ribs.

“I’m here, I’m here, Miss Mezyra.” He muttered, looking at her, then to Niko, his eyes widening slightly before his shock turned to a snide smile. “Who’s your little friend?”

“You’re calling me-“ Niko started, but the woman cut him off with a sharp glare.

“No one of importance. Let’s get this done with, yes?” She droned, rolling her eyes. The man nodded at least four times (Niko counted), before scuttling back behind the curtain and producing two small bags of money.

Mezzy handed one of them to Niko and they both stepped out without another word, looking around at the underground carnival.

“Go buy something for yourself. I don’t know, win a prize or something.” She waved him off dismissively, moving around, obviously in search of specific items. Niko turned, looking around as he walked between little venues. Some things were advertised as edible, others were games with prizes, and others were things like fortune tellers. The hunter eventually settled on trying out a game, winning a prize on his second try. It was one of those old shooting games, which he was incredibly good at since he shot things for a living.

His prize didn’t look much like a prize, however, the lanky guy practically launching the bucket labelled with fairies at him and hurriedly saying there were no returns. He caught it, inspecting the bucket as he looked around for Mezzy. Boy, would she be happy to have some fairies after all her nagging to catch some. Making his way through the crowd, the black haired girl practically raced up to him, her grin displaying her victory. 

“I found them!” She exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. There was a large jar in her hands, originally labelled as Eyeballs, now crossed out to say Olives.

“Found what?”

“Some eyes that might be a good fit to replace your other one!” Mezyra was beyond giddy, examining the contents of the jar, as if already trying to pick one out for the surgery. Niko suppressed a shudder, changing the topic as soon as he got her attention again. 

“Look what I got you!” He mused, proud of himself as he held up the steel bucket. Unfortunately, the movement caused something inside to be aggravated, a loud ‘thunk’ sounding, and a large dent protruding from the side of it. Niko recoiled, his hand still grasping the handle, but now his arm was extended at full length, staring at the bucket.

Mezzy gasped, not even acknowledging the danger inside the steel. “Fairies!” She shrieked happily.


End file.
